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Danish Police Shoot Dead Man Who ‘Opened Fire’

Copenhagen police have shot dead a man they say opened fire on them, BBC reports Sunday morning, and are investigating whether he is one of two shooters responsible for attacks on a "Blasphemy Conference" at a cafe and a synagogue Saturday which killed two people.

In the first attack, two masked gunmen shot over 200 bullets into a cafe' holding a conference on Islam and free speech, which featured several controversial speakers, including possible target and Mohammed cartoonist Lars Vilks.

One man, a civilian, died; three policemen were injured. The gunmen – one described as tall, athletic, and with Arabic features – escaped in a black Volkswagen Polo.

Hours later, two gunmen shot at a synagogue in the city center, killing one person and wounding two others. The perpetrators in that attack fled on foot.

Michael Gelvan, chairman of the Nordic Jewish Security Council, told AFPthat a Bar Mitzvah ceremony had been underway inside the synagogue and that the "young man" who was killed had been responsible for "access control" when he was shot.

"We don't know anything yet, it's too early to guess," he said about possible motives behind the killing.

"But it's a copy of what happened in Paris," he said, referring to the deadly attacks at satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in January.

Danish police have declined to comment on whether the two incidents are connected or if the gunmen are the same, stating that it is too early to tell late Saturday night.

They added, however, that they had shot dead another man near a railway station in Noerrebro, after they had been keeping an address there under observation; it is unclear how the development is connected to the shootings at this time.